LETTER TO THE SWISS FEDERAL COURT

Bienne, May 24, 2005

Human Rights in the Balance

This letter have been sent to several Federal Counselors of the Federal Parliament in Bern, and this is a copy for records of the Federal Court.

To who it may concern in the Federal Court,

I am appealing to you with the greatest respect, to plead for your intervention in a case of extreme urgency. As you can see, I am a Swiss citizen of Cuban origin very attached to the democratic values of this country, but undoubtedly, very interested also in the future of my homeland (Cuba) and the role that my adoptive country must play in the necessary transition towards democracy that this beautiful Caribbean nation deserves so much.

Switzerland is a good international example when it comes to helping refugees. I personally was one of them and therefore, I understand and even approve of the efforts of the Chancellor Christoph Blocher against the abuse of the political asylum system. But Switzerland, and very specifically the Swiss left side, is also a nation that is making a stand with regard to capital punishment. The Chileans who fled the dictatorship of Pinochet are among these examples and in all these cases, the right to life was above any political considerations.

Today, the government of the United States has arrested without bail Mr. Luís Posada Carriles. In spite of having family in Miami, they have isolated him in a center of detention next to El Paso, Texas. Luís Posada Carriles is an active combatant against Castro, about whom much has been written and believe me most of it is not true. Luís Posada Carriles is a symbol for several generations of Cubans, above all, for those that have always strived to break free from Fidel Castro's tyranny.

They want to try Mr. Luís Posada Carriles for a third time for a crime that he was acquitted of twice in Venezuela which is now under the oppressive leadership of Hugo Chávez. A country, that established more or less one year ago, a judicial agreement with Cuba. An agreement in which Castro has the last word. Can you imagine how Fidel Castro will judge Mr. Luís Posada Carriles? Do you remember that for only trying to escape from Cuba, Castro ordered the summary execution of 3 black Cubans who were not constituting any threat to his power?

I do not believe that I have to mention the terrorist acts committed by Castro (the "good" dictator who is favored by the hypocritical European left wingers) since the 1940s His intervention as a university student in the so called "Bogotazo" (Bogota, Colombia, 1948) is recorded in the history of that country for the murder of the liberal leader Jorge Eliécer Gaytán. A Colombian who was presenting himself as a candidate for the presidency of Colombia and who in the polls was appearing as a sure winner.

On May 19th, Castro headed in Havana an "antiterrorist" march that rather was trying to distract the attention of the Cubans. The objective of such a costly mobilization was to accuse again Luis Posada Carriles and blame the United States for his existence. The irony of Castro's attitude he himself has organized, financed and carried out hundreds of terrorist acts, not only since his arrival to power in Cuba in 1959, but also when he was fighting against the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

The war developed in Cuba for the power and directed by Castro, was marked during the 50s by constant campaigns of bombings and fires against civil targets, including shops, theaters, cinemas, buses, etc. Hundreds of Cubans lost their lives in these terrorist acts planned by Castro. An example of what I mean was the case of the "Cinecito", a cinema where he was witnessed murdering Manolo Castro (a student opponent).

As soon as he seized power in Cuba in 1959, the Castro government turned into the protector of a great many terrorists from North America and other countries. Dozens of the so called “ Black Panthers ” accused of terrorism in their countries of origin reside in Cuba. The best example is that of Assata Shakur, whose real name is Joanne Chesimard and who is wanted by the FBI. Chesimard, killed in cold blood a police officer in New Jersey and escaped to Cuba in 1979, where she lives as if she was a heroine.

Another North American refugee terrorist in Cuba is a Charlie Hill, who lives protected by the Cuban authorities after having hijacked a TWA plane. In whole, and according to the reports of the FBI, there are more than 70 criminals wanted by the United States justice system, who have found refuge in Castro's Cuba. The majority of them for hijacking airplanes, murder, use of explosives, tax offences and political murders.

Amoung the perpetrators of multiple murders and the bombers supported by Castro we must not forget the members of the organization named " Los Macheteros " (the same ones that assaulted the Congress of the United States killing the security guard and wounding others) and that in the 1970s, attacked a West Fargo truck and stole more than 1 million dollars. Some of them, still remain protected by the Cuban government.

If the Latin Americans and the Europeans have lost their memory, we, the Cubans, have not. During the years after the Cuban revolution, the political assassinations, the kidnappings and the bombs became constant threats in countries such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Venezuela. Many other nations were a target of the destabilizing campaigns directed from Havana during the sixties, seventies until middle of the eighties.

Castro developed hundreds of campaigns of terrorism against the people of Angola when it supported the MPLA against the UNITA. Cuba maintained a force of 50,000 troops annually for 14 years in this country from 1977. There, they devoted themselves to destroying villages and to exterminating populations. The use of the chemical weapon (in the pure style of Sadam Hussein) by the Cuban troops has been widely documented by a Dutch specialist who investigated the matter for the UN.

Castro has given and continues giving logistic support, refuge, and training, not only to the Latin-American terrorists, but also to the Palestinians of Al Fatha and to the Spanish ETA. The latter organization, has more than 20 killers enjoying the hospitality of the Cuban dictator. I do not need to say that ETA has committed more than 1000 murders of innocent people (including several children).

One of the latest cases known of organized terrorism by Castro and that affected deeply the Cuban community in exile, was the shooting down of two light aircraft belonging to the organization Brothers' s to the Rescue. This is an association of exiled pilots that was devoted to rescuing rafters in the Straits of Florida. All the intelligence agents in Castro's service that contributed to the downing of those two civilian planes in international waters, and the death of four pilots (3 of them North American citizens) are treated as heroes in Cuba.

Your Excellency Federal Counselor, I must confess the friends who have warned me to be cautious in the defense of Luís Posada Carriles have not been few. All of them deserve my highest consideration. I admit that I could be naive in all those things that are still not clear in the history of this compatriot. But it is not a question of defending here a name, but of the presumption of innocence to which any human being has right. Let's suppose that Mr Luís Posada Carriles was guilty of each and every of the acts that he is accused of. Would he have a fair trial in the hands of a criminal such as Fidel Castro?

Switzerland, if it could not grant to this Cuban exile a neutral asylum, instead might intervene with the United States Government for Luís Posada Carriles to be tried there where he was arrested and not in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela would only provide the place to put the gallows, but the judges would pronounce sentence from Havana. The years of this aged anti-communist combatant are counted and his future must not be decided by a terrorist posing as Robin Hood, unfortunately, still he enjoys the admiration of the European left side.

With my highest regards,
Carlos Wotzkow

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